Baling agricultural produce is a well-known and frequently used practice throughout the world. Various methods, techniques, products, materials and equipment have been used to harvest, bale and wrap agricultural produce. In recent years, knitted nets and films have been replacing the wire/sisal twine and baling twine which have been traditionally used. These nets and films are commonly constructed of polypropylene/polyethylene.
Some recent wrapping materials have included a tacky film for wrapping baled items, such as agricultural produce. Such products have also been applied in a supplemental use after wrapping the bale with net or twine, with the aim of producing silage. Alternatively, such films could also be used as a replacement to the net or the twine, or any other alternative wrapping material. In any event, typically, these various types of wrapping methods and products require more than one layer of wrapping material.
Regardless of the wrapping material used, the wrapping material must maintain the bale within the wrapping until the user opens the bale for use in its designated purpose, such as: distribution of the agricultural product in the targeted area (manger or stall); feeding and/or processing; or the like.
Both square and round bales are usually wrapped by means of film in standard widths of 50 or 75 cm in the shape of a bandage while rotating the bales on two axes. Although the film is tacky, due to dusty conditions, moisture or wind, the tackiness is often not sufficient to keep the tail fastened, such that the tail opens prematurely compromising the wrap and, potentially, the baled item within the wrap by, for example, exposing the baled item to the environmental elements.
Since the wrapping material is wound on a storage roll, prior to use, the maximum level of tackiness which can be bestowed on the film is limited to a tackiness level which allows release of the wrapping material from the roll of material for use in the wrapping process.
An additional disadvantage and limitation which exists in the prior art tacky films is that the tackiness of the film is uniform throughout the area of application, and may be positioned on both sides, or on one side only.
Consequently, due to the low bonding strength of such materials with such a given level of tackiness, which is imparted during the manufacturing process of the wrapping material, many such materials are manufactured to include tacky areas along the entire length of one side or both sides of the film. In each of these cases, the entire area of the film is tacky and the level of tackiness is limited to the strength required in order to release the wrapping material from the roll of material. There are two fundamental disadvantages with such tacky wrapping materials: first, the level of tackiness must be limited, and second, the tackiness is essentially uniform over the entire wrapping area.
Over the years, in an attempt to solve the problem of fastening the bales wrapped with such films, a number of solutions were proposed, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,209, PCT Application No. PCT/IB2005/003589, and U.S. application Ser. No. 12/405,526, all of which are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein. Such proposed solutions entailed the use of adhesive at the end of the wrap, or by use of fasteners (e.g., Velcro®).
Also, it has been proposed to use adhesive at the end or tail of a wrapping material, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,209. However, disadvantages of this technique are reported, e.g., with increased stress created at the tail of the wrapping material when wrapping compressed and baled agricultural items, requiring particularly strong adhesive. According to the patent, this strong adhesive had to be spread over a wide area of the tail creating disadvantages.
Moreover, the method, such as is described in PCT Application No. PCT/IB2005/003589 and U.S. application Ser. No. 12/405,526, using Velcro® fasteners and other like male-female connections suffers from a problem of not being reliable and not being financially viable. For example, when the baled item deviates from the original determined specifications, due to the nature of the agricultural product, then only partial attachment is obtained which results in improper fixation of the tail, exposure to penetration of water or humidity, and the like. Further, if extreme deviation occurs, the male and female parts may not engage at all.
Yet another attempt to solve the foregoing disadvantages is disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/113,720, incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth herein, using wrapping material with opposing adhesive means.
Many areas exist where wrapped bales remain out under the open sky for a certain period of time until use, as opposed to storing the bale in dry places, and protected locations such as warehouses and/or under a roof, so as to prevent penetration of rain water to the bale. Occasionally, this period of exposure to the elements can extend over two years or more. During this period the wrapped bale is exposed to the forces of nature and under these circumstances the need for a bale wrapping having strong fastening properties at the tail of the wrapping material becomes acute.